RE: Trump Calls For Moratorium on Muslim Immigrants
December 8, 2015 at 2:49 pm
(This post was last modified: December 8, 2015 at 2:53 pm by Neo-Scholastic.
Edit Reason: grammar
)
First, I don’t support Trump. Got it, everyone? His comments lack nuance so I cannot be certain of his exact policy stance; yet I can conceive of an interpretation of his statements with which I could agree. Citizens of the United States are to be protected against discrimination on the basis of national origin, ethnicity, gender, and religion. Acceptance of those fleeing persecution and seeking refuge is a long-standing tradition of our country. Yet discriminating on the basis of national origin has been our practice under all previous Congresses, Courts and Administrations.
Placing restrictions upon foreign nationals coming into and residing in the USA is a necessary practice just as it is for other Western democracies. We place quotas on how many immigrants we willingly to legally accept from other countries. Those restrictions relate, not so much to the race or ethnicity; but rather on allegiances and respect. Qualifying immigrants willing to transfer their national allegiance to the US get accepted as legal citizens. Visiting foreign nations willing to respect the authority of the US get to live and work here on a qualified basis. It is right and proper to filter out those who as citizens would put their allegiance elsewhere, particularly if their allegiance lies with nations wanting to harm the USA. Likewise, people who we suspect will not respect the legal authority of the USA and defy its foundational principles should be filtered out.
Country of origin, ethnic decent, and religious identity matter and can be a legitimate reasons for discrimination against foreign nationals under certain conditions. Historically, US citizens of German and Japanese decent were unjustly persecuted and detained. That was wrong. And yet, no one to my knowledge believes that the USA should have uncritically allowed Germans and Japanese nationals to enter US territory during a time of war.
It is foolish for us to deny that the adherents of some religious doctrines and political ideologies threaten peace in the US and the liberties of our people. It makes no difference if a hostile organization is political (National Socialism for example) or religious (Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood or ISIS) in nature. It is a fact that many devout Muslims from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries have no intention of respecting US legal authority, openly state their intentions to do harm, and are formally aligned with or tacitly supportive of hostile organizations. There is nothing morally or legally wrong with restricting a non-citizen’s access to the US if the nation from which he or she comes or the religion with which he or she identify calls into question their respect for their host nation.
It would have been madness to let in avowed Nazis during WWII and committed Soviet communist party members during the Cold War. The US did embrace some defectors but not before removing all suspicion that they would respect US sovereignty and did not pose a national security risk. Likewise it would have been madness to give any of those people a pass just because they belonged to a protected class. If some are coming to the US to impose Sharia, they aren’t welcome any more those in times past who wanted to actively undermine the institutions of our government, culture and business.
Placing restrictions upon foreign nationals coming into and residing in the USA is a necessary practice just as it is for other Western democracies. We place quotas on how many immigrants we willingly to legally accept from other countries. Those restrictions relate, not so much to the race or ethnicity; but rather on allegiances and respect. Qualifying immigrants willing to transfer their national allegiance to the US get accepted as legal citizens. Visiting foreign nations willing to respect the authority of the US get to live and work here on a qualified basis. It is right and proper to filter out those who as citizens would put their allegiance elsewhere, particularly if their allegiance lies with nations wanting to harm the USA. Likewise, people who we suspect will not respect the legal authority of the USA and defy its foundational principles should be filtered out.
Country of origin, ethnic decent, and religious identity matter and can be a legitimate reasons for discrimination against foreign nationals under certain conditions. Historically, US citizens of German and Japanese decent were unjustly persecuted and detained. That was wrong. And yet, no one to my knowledge believes that the USA should have uncritically allowed Germans and Japanese nationals to enter US territory during a time of war.
It is foolish for us to deny that the adherents of some religious doctrines and political ideologies threaten peace in the US and the liberties of our people. It makes no difference if a hostile organization is political (National Socialism for example) or religious (Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood or ISIS) in nature. It is a fact that many devout Muslims from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries have no intention of respecting US legal authority, openly state their intentions to do harm, and are formally aligned with or tacitly supportive of hostile organizations. There is nothing morally or legally wrong with restricting a non-citizen’s access to the US if the nation from which he or she comes or the religion with which he or she identify calls into question their respect for their host nation.
It would have been madness to let in avowed Nazis during WWII and committed Soviet communist party members during the Cold War. The US did embrace some defectors but not before removing all suspicion that they would respect US sovereignty and did not pose a national security risk. Likewise it would have been madness to give any of those people a pass just because they belonged to a protected class. If some are coming to the US to impose Sharia, they aren’t welcome any more those in times past who wanted to actively undermine the institutions of our government, culture and business.
